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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25193875">Rosaceae</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosequartzstars/pseuds/rosequartzstars'>rosequartzstars</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Awkward Flirting, Awkwardness, Crushes, F/M, Flirting, Hogwarts, Hogwarts Era, Hogwarts Sixth Year, Oneshot, Teen Crush, Teenagers, rff 2020, romione, romione fic fest 2020, romione oneshot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 09:02:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>750</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25193875</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosequartzstars/pseuds/rosequartzstars</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Spending an afternoon on the Hogwarts grounds near the end of their sixth year, Ron watches Hermione struggle to master a new spell as he feels something burgeoning in his chest— something he should have paid attention to many years before. (Romione one-shot)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Rosaceae</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Originally posted for the Romione Fic Fest 2020 on Tumblr, for the prompts "roses/flowers" and "Hogwarts". :)</p><p>You can find the original here: https://romioneficfest.tumblr.com/post/618469549062471680/rosaceae</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Those two sure are spending a lot of time together, aren't they?" grumbled Ron, his gaze trailing after Harry, hand in hand with a giggling Ginny, as they snuck off to a corner of the castle. It was a shimmering blue day above the lawn of Hogwarts castle, where Ron and Hermione were splayed, preparing for the final weeks of school.</p><p>"Oh, give it a rest, won't you, Ron?" said Hermione, going through the motions of an elaborate flourish with her wand. "Nobody said anything when it was you with Lavender, did they—" she cut herself off, and, as if to conceal the blush that had crept onto her cheeks, made a hurried movement with her wand, managing to squeak out "<em>Rosaceae</em>!" From the tip of her wand bloomed a salmon-colored flower with curled petals, wilting away almost immediately. "Oh, damn it…"</p><p>"Well, yes, but that's my sister, you know that? That's my sister!" he yelled, as Hermione muttered something that sounded like 'yes, Ronald, we know' under her breath, still going through the motions of the same flourish that had yielded the ephemeral blossom. Ron seemed to realize this was a lost cause, and forced himself to rip his gaze from the place where Harry and Ginny had stood, turning instead to Hermione, who was lost in her practice. "And what are <em>you</em> doing, anyway?"</p><p>"New spell," said Hermione absently, performing the flourish a little faster this time. "It's not in the required Charms coursework—"</p><p>"When have <em>you</em> ever been one to go beyond coursework, of course…" remarked Ron sarcastically, but Hermione paid no mind.</p><p>"—but I thought it might be useful to produce flowers, you never know when they might come in handy, and they're just so beautiful…" she allowed herself to drift off, dropping her wand a little, before returning to her wandwork. "I'm trying to get to a whole wreath," she said matter-of-factly, raising her wand to begin the flourish again.</p><p>"What do you need that spell for, anyway?" said Ron, who hadn't recognized the '<em>Rosaceae</em>!' incantation Hermione kept reciting. "We already know <em>Magnoliophys</em>, and that produces a whole bunch of different flowers, why you'd go to all this trouble to produce one specific kind is beyond me…"</p><p>"Well, <em>Ron</em>, it's not just <em>any one</em> specific kind," said Hermione, and Ron couldn't tell whether her brow was furrowed from concentration or from annoyance at him. "It's a rose."</p><p>"And what about it?"</p><p>"What about it?" Hermione blurted, abandoning her wandwork entirely. "Merlin, it's clear you don't know the slightest about Muggles… Traditionally, Ron," she began, and Ron knew she was about to get lost in her customary lecturing, "a red rose is a symbol of love, of— well— romantic love," she said, the furious blush tingeing her cheeks once again, and hoped he wouldn't notice. "It's something you'd give, to— well— I don't know— a girlfriend…" she finished, and sighed to herself: there was no way the blush was going away anytime soon now.</p><p>"Oh, I see. So it's a flower you give to anyone you love?"</p><p>"Well, the significance is a bit more than that. It's a special thing, and, I suppose, if you're very traditional, you'd give it only to the person you'd want to give your whole heart to…"</p><p>She trailed off, turning away so he wouldn't see her pink cheeks, and continued commanding her wand with "<em>Rosaceae</em>!", walking it through the necessary flourish. But Ron wasn't paying attention to the blush: suddenly, it's as if he was seeing her in a whole new light. When had she become this beautiful? When had she gone from the nagging, nightmarish, know-it-all bookworm he seemed to remember from the first months of first year to this gorgeous, brilliant witch now sitting, legs crisscrossed, on the lawn across from him? He felt something begin to blossom in his chest, a warm little flame that —he realized with a start— had been living there for quite some time, but had remained ignored up to that point. And a second thought leapt into his mind: maybe Hermione had never changed, maybe she'd always been like this —this lovely, this brilliant, this perfect—, and maybe he was just now coming to properly realize it.</p><p>And, as she finally succeeded with an assertive "<em>Rosaceae</em>!", beaming as a perfect crimson rose sprang from the tip of her wand and dropped into her lap, he thought about how much he'd like it if there could be a rose in store for them.</p>
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